Best Halloween festivals in North America

The best Halloween-themed music festivals in Norht America worth traveling for.

Halloween has quietly become one of the biggest and best weekends on the North American electronic dance music calendar. From the woods in Florida to the forested mountains of Canada, there’s a myriad of options for ravers searching for the most spooky spots this Hallows’ Eve.

Suwannee Hulaween

The season opens early in the Florida woods, where Hulaween runs October 22–25 at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak. It’s four days of camping around the interactive Spirit Lake installation, with fun events during the day and spooky haunts at night. Excision, My Morning Jacket, Pretty Lights (a three-hour set) and Geese take the nightly headline slots, with hosts The String Cheese Incident playing three nights. Ben Böhmer, Big Gramatik, KETTAMA and STS9 lead the electronic side.

Escape Halloween

Insomniac’s Escape Psycho Circus, the continent’s largest Halloween dance event, marks its 15th anniversary October 30–31 at San Bernardino’s NOS Events Center: 85-plus artists across six stages, wrapped in mazes and a dark circus aesthetic. Zedd, Excision, Richie Hawtin, Steve Aoki and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike lead, alongside a rare festival appearance from Ice Cube. Deeper sit 999999999, Nina Kraviz, Liquid Stranger, a Showtek hardstyle set and a Joyryde sunset set.

Hocus Pocus

Factory Town’s “Dystopia Halloween” edition runs October 30 to November 1 in Miami; three nights, five stages, over 100 house, techno and UK garage acts, and the weekend’s most underground-leaning bill. Eric Prydz, Gorgon City, Meduza and Purple Disco Machine headline, with Chase & Status making their Factory Town debut. The back-to-backs are the real draw: Joseph Capriati b2b Seth Troxler, Odd Mob b2b Cassian, Âme b2b Marcel Dettmann.

Freaky Deaky

The Texas weekender Freaky Deaky returns October 30–31 at Austin’s Travis County Exposition Center, its “The Revival” theme leaning into bass, dubstep and festival house across three stages. Illenium and Slander top the bill, with Disco Lines, Crankdat and SIDEPIECE on The Reactor, Liquid Stranger and Boogie T on The Circuit, and a UK-heavy Lab hosting Flava D, Interplanetary Criminal and Hannah Laing. A secondary Freaky Deaky NOLA runs the same dates at Mardi Gras World.

Haunted Fest

Breakaway’s Haunted Fest is the weekend’s most geographically ambitious play, spreading across six cities on October 30 and 31 rather than concentrating everything in one field. Columbus (KEMBA Live! Outdoor) and Pittsburgh (Stage AE Outdoor) get single Friday nights — the former with it’s murph, MPH, Twin Diplomacy and Skilah, the latter a heavier bass bill in Tape B, Mersiv, Distinct Motive and SVDKO. Three cities go two nights: Cincinnati at MegaCorp Pavilion with Knock2, GRiZ, Avello and Nikita The Wicked; St. Petersburg on the St. Pete Pier with a house-leaning run of Eli Brown, Gordo, HUGEL and AMÉMÉ; and Atlanta in Piedmont Park, headlined by Two Friends and Tape B with Laszewo, EFFIN and a James Tribe b2b Axial set. Charleston closes Saturday at Building 64 with Knock2, LYNY, ERICDOA and Monzy.

@nninagrace

Best weekend ever @Breakaway #viral #breakaway #stpete

♬ She’s Gone, Dance On – Disclosure

SCREAM

Canada’s veteran Halloween mass-dance event fills the Edmonton EXPO Centre on October 30–31, pairing four stages across two nights with hundreds of theatrical performers working the floor. The booking philosophy is breadth rather than depth in any one lane: Alesso and EDX for progressive house, Andrew Rayel for trance, Chase & Status for drum and bass, Gryffin for melodic bass, Kayzo and LAYZ for dubstep and riddim, KREAM for melodic techno, BEAUZ for hard techno. The harder edges get covered too, with ANIME bringing hardcore, hardstyle and frenchcore, while Joshwa, HNTR and Jackie Hollander hold down tech house.

BOO!

Another Insomniac staple, BOO! takes over the WaMu Theater in Seattle on October 30–31 with heavy bass, dubstep and house under haunted mansion production, plus a companion edition in Phoenix. Lineup details are still rolling out.

About The Author